Golf club head attachable rake



Oct. 5, 1965 w. N. FALLON GOLF CLUB HEAD ATTACHABLE RAKE Filed Sept. 26,1962 FIG. 2

FIG. 3

WILLIAM N. FALLON 1N VENTOR.

United States Patent 3,210,111 GOLF CLUB HEAD ATTACHABLE RAKE William N.Fallon, Armstrong Drive, Westboro, Mass. Filed Sept. 26, 1962, Ser. No.226,318 1 Claim. (Cl. 294--19) This invention relates to a golfaccessory and, more particularly, to apparatus arranged to facilitatethe location and retrieval of a golf ball which rolls into tall grassand the like.

One of the hazards of the sport of golfing is that, despite extreme careon the part of the golfer, the ball often leaves the main fairway wherethe grass is cut fairly short and enters an area of weeds, tall grass,vegetation and the like. Trying to find the ball in the rough isdiflicult, since the use of ones foot is tiring and the use of a golfclub is not effective because the golf club head is so small. While arake makes an excellent tool for searching for a ball in tall grass, itis a rather awkward implement to carry around the golf course. These andother difiiculties experienced with the prior art devices have beenobviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide agolf accessory which may be attached to the head of a golf club forfacilitating the retrieval of a golf ball in deep grass or the like.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a golf accessoryconsisting of a rake-like attachment for the head of a golf club, whichrake is formed inexpensively of a plastic material which is not onlycapable of a long life and is not subject to destruction by water butwhich is light enough to be readily carried in the pocket of a golf bag.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a rake forattachment to a golf club in which the elastomer nature of the materialis used to provide a firm attachment to the golf club.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a golfaccessory for facilitating the retrieval of a golf ball, which accessorymay be simply made from readily obtainable materials by the simplestfabrication methods and which has no moving parts to get into disrepair.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of partsset forth in the specification and covered by the claim appended hereto.

The character of the invention, however, may be best understood byreference to one of its structural forms as illustrated by theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf accessory embodying theprinciples of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the invention taken on the line IIII ofFIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the invention taken on the line III-III ofFIG. 1.

Referring first to FIG. 1, wherein are best shown the general featuresof the invention, the golf accessory, indicated generally by thereference numeral 10, is shown in use with a golf club 11 having a steelhead 12. The golf accessory consists of a main body 13 and a sheath 14.The entire accessory is formed from a sheet of polyethylene plastic of atype having a degree of elastomer qualities and while having a fairlyhigh degree of stiifness. The main body is generally rectangular and isprovided with an upper edge which is curled, as is best evident in FIG.3, to form a bead 15 along the upper edge of the device. The lower edgeis provided with four teeth, 16, 17, 18, and 19 which are wide enough togive them substantial strength. The spacing between the teeth issufficient to permit the device to pass through tall grass and 3,210,111Patented Oct. 5, 1965 "ice the like without allowing a ball to passbetween the teeth. As is evident in FIG. 3, the teeth are curvedslightly relative to the main body 13.

The sheath 14 in which the golf club head 12 resides is formed partly bythe curved upper edge bead 15 of the device and partly by a flap 21which is bent up from the lower edge of the main body 13.. The flap isof such a nature that its upper edge 22 is parallel to and spaced fromthe edge of the lip or edge 15 along the upper edge of the device. Theflap is bent from the main body along an inclned line 23 which residesat a substantial angle (in the order of 30) to the upper edge 15. Thenet effect of this angularity is to assure that the sheath 14 is taperedand that the large end faces toward the area from which the teeth 16,17, 18, and 19 protrude. The sheath resides on an extension of the mainbody which is not provided with teeth.

The operation of the invention will now be readily understood in view ofthe above description. accessory 10 would normally be carried in thepocket of the golf bag. When a ball is lost in tall grass, weeds, or thelike, the golfer holds the accessory in his left hand and inserts thegolf club shank in the gap 24 between the edge 22 and the bead 15 at theupper edge of the main body. He then slides the shank to the right inFIG. 1 so that the shank of the club passes through the slot and theclub head 12 slides into place with the upper edge clamped by the bead15 and the lower edge clamped by the flap 21. Because of the taperednature of the edge 23 against which the lower edge of the golf club 12resides it is possible to cam the golf club firmly into place. Theharder the golf club is pulled to the right the tighter the engagementwithin the sheaf. The golfer then uses the golf club in a normal mannergrasping it by the handle and swinging it through the grass. The teeth16, 17, 18, and 19 pass through the grass, and if the ball is present ina certain area, will indicate that fact to the golfer visually or by thefeel. By swinging the golf club and the attached accessory through thedeep grass or weeds, the finding of the ball is facilitated.

The use of an elastomer plastic such as polyethylene in forming thedevice means that it is not subject to corrosion, it can be wet withoutdamage or without warping, and, if dirty, can be readily washed. Themanufacture of the device is quite simple and may make use of anywell-known techniques in molding and forming.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the device would initiallybe formed as a plastic extrusion having the cross-section shown in FIG.3. Then, the materials may be punched from that extrusion. The resultingproduct is, of course, quite light (which is important, since it has tobe carried around the golf course by the golfer) and has no complicatedparts to get into disrepair.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andconstruction of the invention without departing from the material spiritthereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to theexact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include allsuch as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new anddesired to secure by Letters Patent is:

A golf accessory for use with a golf club, comprising (a) an elongatedmain body having a broad fiat configuration formed of a stiff elastomerplastic and provided with a plurality of spaced parallel teeth in theplane of the body, and

(b) a tapered sheath formed at one end of the main body integrallytherewith with the larger end facing the other end of the main body, thesheath being adapted to embrace the head of a golf club, the edge of themain body opposite the teeth being folded over The golf References Citedby the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 556,389 3/96 Wheeler 56400.04770,970 9/04 Keferstein 30148 X 1,464,029

1/25 Brady 273-32 11/37 Donnan 56--400.07 11/49 Douglass 27335 6/54 DeVries 273-194 10/55 Walner 29419 FOREIGN PATENTS 10/ 20 Great Britain.

8/23 Coughtrie 273 194 DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner.

